Monday, September 26, 2005

Hey Rube!

Over the next 10 years, Americans will not receive nearly $750 billion in tax cuts sponsored by President Bush because the cuts will be offset by the alternative minimum tax, a new report by Congressional tax specialists shows.

The report, prepared by the staff of the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, said that from 2006 to 2015, Americans would pay as much as $1.1 trillion more under the alternative minimum tax, partly as a result of the Bush tax cuts.

The Bush tax cuts reduced the bill for millions of taxpayers to a level that will subject them to the alternative minimum tax instead of the standard tax rate. As a result, the report said, their tax savings would be reduced by a total of $739.2 billion over the 10 years.

Families with children who own their homes will be hit hardest by the increased alternative tax.

Oh, and rube? Tax cuts for the rich ain't on the table, so don't get too attached to that mortgage deduction! And you'll want to start saving up now for the money you owe Uncle Sammy on your employer-covered health plan:

Tax breaks such as deductions for home mortgage interest and state and local taxes cost the federal government $728 billion last year and need to be reexamined, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report on Friday . . . .

The biggest growth in recent years is the exclusion from income tax of employer-paid health insurance benefits, contributing $102.3 billion or 14 percent of the 2004 lost revenues. Deductability of home mortgage interest -- including second homes -- was the second biggest portion at $61.5 billion or 8.4 percent of the total.

"The time has come to reexamine the base of all major federal spending and tax programs, policies functions and activities. We were already deeply in the hole before Katrina hit and now Rita is off the coast," [GAO Comptroller General David Walker] said.

Hey, rube, it's God's will! If he wanted you to own your own home, why would he send you A) hurricanes, B) Osama bin Laden, C) Geo. W. Bush?